Kg Augenstern – Tentacles

Kg Augenstern’s “Tentacles” is the embodiment of tactile sound. Utilizing space as an artifact of sound the pieces represent their unique geography. Like a wordless travelog the songs have love for their surroundings, exploring them in a myriad number of ways. The mixture of the calm and the chaotic works wonders for the sound as it feels positively alive with meaning. Over the course of the album Kg Augenstern lets each of these different locations show off a distinct personality.

Starting things off on a mellow note is the spaciousness of “Berlin”. On this piece the transitions feel light and airy as the sound itself is one that is impossible to fully pin down. Far busier is “from Berlin to Njimegen” where the elements of the natural world filter in far more gradually, with the radio transmissions adding to the heightened sense of reality. Exploring the joy of the drone is “Paris”. Ambitious and sprawling the piece incorporates everything from simple movement to the highly detailed layered sounds that blanket themselves over the world. By letting the song unfurl slowly it serves as the highlight of the album. Opting for a confrontational sort of release is the intense noisiness of “Tentacles Synthesis”. Letting the environment swallow everything up results in a maddening sea of sound from which there is no escape. Bringing the album to a soothing introspective close are the micro sounds of “Tentacles 2”.

Mindfulness reigns over the contemplative performance of Kg Augenstern’s “Tentacles”.